Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25C—PRODUCING, WORKING OR HANDLING ICE
  • F25C3/00—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for producing ice or snow for winter sports or similar recreational purposes, e.g. for sporting installations; Producing artificial snow
  • F25C3/04—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for producing ice or snow for winter sports or similar recreational purposes, e.g. for sporting installations; Producing artificial snow for sledging or ski trails; Producing artificial snow
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63C—SKATES; SKIS; ROLLER SKATES; DESIGN OR LAYOUT OF COURTS, RINKS OR THE LIKE
  • A63C19/00—Design or layout of playing courts, rinks, bowling greens or areas for water-skiing; Covers therefor
  • A63C19/10—Ice-skating or roller-skating rinks; Slopes or trails for skiing, ski-jumping or tobogganing
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C09—DYES; PAINTS; POLISHES; NATURAL RESINS; ADHESIVES; COMPOSITIONS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; APPLICATIONS OF MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • C09K—MATERIALS FOR MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
  • C09K3/00—Materials not provided for elsewhere
  • C09K3/24—Materials not provided for elsewhere for simulating ice or snow
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25C—PRODUCING, WORKING OR HANDLING ICE
  • F25C2303/00—Special arrangements or features for producing ice or snow for winter sports or similar recreational purposes, e.g. for sporting installations; Special arrangements or features for producing artificial snow
  • F25C2303/044—Snow making using additional features, e.g. additives, liquid gas

Definitions

• THIS INVENTION relates to a method for making artificial snow, and to a snow skiing slope using such snow.
• man-made slopes are created using snow-machines which spray water and com- pressed air in a carefully controlled atmosphere (for both temperature and humidity) to create a blanket of snow. These machines are expensive to operate and the atmosphere is difficult to control, requiring expensive air conditioning equipment.
• the man-made slopes gener- ally only extend the operating life of the slope by approximately 30 days.
• the present invention resides in a method for making artificial snow including the steps of: mixing water with a surfactant (i.e. surface- ative-agent or wetting agent); agitating, aerating and/or bubbling gas through the mixture to form a foam or froth of water bubbles; applying the foam or froth of bubbles to the area on which the artificial snow is to be created; and freeze the foam or froth of bubbles to form the snow crystals.
• a surfactant i.e. surface- ative-agent or wetting agent
• Suitable surfactants include soaps and deter- gents; sulphated, aliphatic or aromatic alcohols; linear or branched chain alkybenzene sulphonates; alkyarine sul ⁇ phonates; sodium, dodecylbenzene sulphonate; alkyl sul ⁇ phonates; anionic, cationic and non-ionic surfactants.
• Non-ionic surfactants are preferred as these form a resilient foam with small/minute bubbles which on freezing, produce high quality snow crystals down to powder snow size.
• the surfactant forming 0.03% to 5% of the mixture by weight.
• bio-degradable surfactants are preferred.
• a bulk volume of the mixture may be agitated or aerated to produce a foam of bubbles on top of the mixture and the foam may be transferred or transported to the area where the snow is to be created.
• the mix ⁇ ture may be aerated by pumping air through the mixture at the ratio wate :air 1:1 to 1:5 (v/v), the preferred aeration range being 1 :2 to 1:3 (v/v).
• the mixture may be mixed and sprayed from equipment of the type used for fire fighting foam (i.e. a foam generator), the foam of bubbles being sprayed over the area where the snow is to be created.
• equipment of the type used for fire fighting foam i.e. a foam generator
• the foam may be laid over a skiing slope and frozen by the cold ambient air or may be laid over an area covered by a flexible cover or structure into which is pumped cold air or refrigerant.
• the foam may also be laid over artificial snow formed by the method of International Application No. PCT/AU85/00267 to form a layer of powder snow.
• the foam is laid over a refrigerated grid, so that the bubbles break down themselves into the snow crystals. (The mixture is frozen from the bottom upwardly and the weight of the foam above the frozen bubbles assists in breaking down the bubbles into the snow crystals.)
• Smaller bubbles may be preferred as these are more persistent (i.e. less likely to break before freez ⁇ ing) and more ice crystals are produced.
• the frozen bubbles may be compressed or crushed by passing a roller over the bubbles.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a first embodi ⁇ ment
• FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a second embodi- ment
• water and linear chain alkylbenzene sulphonate are stored in separate W, S tanks, and are mixed in a mixing head M in a ratio of e.g. 97% water: 3% sulphonate and sprayed from a foam nozzle N of a foam generator FG used to spray fire fighting foam, the foam mixture being sprayed in the form of a foam of bubbles, the foam being laid in layers 10 over the area of the proposed ski slope 11.
• the bubbles have a skin with a low gas permea ⁇ bility and so the entrained air in the bubbles cannot readily escape.
• the ambient air e.g. below -5. C causes the skins of the bubbles to freeze to form a frozen foam of bubbles with the air remaining entrained.
• a roller is passed over the frozen layer to break the frozen bubble skins, releasing the air, and compressing the bubbles to form snow crystals.
• the resulting artificial snow has skiing characteristics similar to natural snow and by varying the size of the bubbles, the nature of the snow in the different layers can be varied to suit the desired con ⁇ ditions.
• water and the surfactant e.g. detergent from tanks, W, S are mixed in the mixing head M in the ratio 99% water: 1% surfactant and the mixture is aerated by pumping air into the mixing head M from air air compressor AC at the ratio of water:air equals 1:2 (volume/volume) .
• the resultant foam of bubbles is laid over a frozen flexible grid system 20 (e.g. of the type sold under the "Icemat” trade mark by Calmac Manufacturing Corporation, of Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.A. - the subject of U.S. Patent Nos. 3,751,935 and 3,893,507), the flexible grid system 20 being cooled by a refri ⁇ geration unit R.
• the bubbles in the foam freeze from the bottom upwards and break down into the snow cry ⁇ stals which form a layer 21 over the grid.
• additional layers of foam are laid down and allowed to freeze to form snow crystals.
• cold air e.g. in the form of a curtain may be blown over the foam (see FIG. 1).
• a flexible cover 30 may be laid over the foam and cold air or refrigerant (e.g. from refrigerator unit 12) may be pumped through or under the cover 30 to freeze the foam.
• the mixture may be aerated with air to form the foam and then frozen by passing C0 gas through the foam.
• a catchment may be provided at the base of the ski-slope 11 to collect the melt snow.
• the surface may be "shaved", the removed snow melted and refrozen and laid or a fresh layer of the snow crystals may be laid over the existing surface.
• the fresh layer can comprise powder snow crystals.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Architecture (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Materials Engineering (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Road Paving Structures (AREA)
• Emulsifying, Dispersing, Foam-Producing Or Wetting Agents (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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ID=3771132

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Cited By (3)

Families Citing this family (14)

Citations (4)

Family Cites Families (15)

• 1986
  • 1986-06-03 GB GB8702397A patent/GB2186673B/en not_active Expired
  • 1986-06-03 US US07/022,639 patent/US4793142A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1986-06-03 EP EP86903155A patent/EP0222843A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1986-06-03 WO PCT/AU1986/000158 patent/WO1986007373A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1986-06-03 JP JP61503315A patent/JPS62503118A/ja active Granted
  • 1986-06-03 NZ NZ216401A patent/NZ216401A/xx unknown

Patent Citations (4)

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